


Friends on the Other Side

by Star_Going_Supernova



Series: Inky Eyes, Golden Heart [8]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Dad!Henry (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Demon Deals, Fluff, Gen, Henry is a bit of a turd for most of this, Henry's in trouble, Kinda, Worldbuilding, actually they're all in trouble, are discussed, demon!Henry, it's not his fault though, little bit of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 06:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14635857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Going_Supernova/pseuds/Star_Going_Supernova
Summary: Pinning Joey with his gaze, Henry limply tilted his head towards the gold sphere, like he was a puppet on strings. “You want this back inside me, right? I’ll do it for you, simple as that. All I ask for is a soul, just once.” He laughed, high pitched and deranged. “It won’t even hurt!”Joey swallowed. His hands shook as he forced himself to look away from the creature pretending to be his friend. Henry was never meant to be like that, so as far as he was concerned, that thing wasn’t Henry at all.





	Friends on the Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> If you follow me on tumblr, you probably saw this story unfold over the past few days. It was inspired by a question from inkabelledesigns, and as promised, I'm putting it here all together. 
> 
> Here's the prompt/question: _So while listening to some music while working on some finals week stuff, Friends on the Other Side from Princess and the Frog came up in my playlist. And ever since hearing Dr. Facilier say "You do have a soul, don't you Lawrence?" all I can think of is your Joey from IEGH with a very confused Sammy. I need to know, would he ever get into voodoo and/or crazy musical numbers on a whim?_
> 
> As far as I'm concerned, this takes place in the far future, after some, _heh,_ specific events that have yet to occur in Dreams Come True. 
> 
> >:3

It was one of the most disconcerting things he’d ever seen. Henry was never meant to be like every other demon out there, was never meant to offer to make a deal with a cruel smirk instead of a kind smile, was never meant to stare Joey down with cold, black eyes where there should be brilliant blue.

But thanks to the maliciousness of a random stranger, who apparently had a penchant for voodoo, Henry’s goodness had been striped away from him. Literally, as a glittering gold sphere hovered just outside the pentagram Joey’d only barely managed to trap his friend in.

“What if we can’t find a way to undo this?” Susie asked from across the table from him. Like Joey, she had a spell book open in front of her.

Taking in the calm, almost bored way Henry stood in his trap, Joey said, “We’ll figure something out.” He had to believe it was possible to make this right. If he gave up…

Henry leaned closer to the barrier containing him. “I could help, y’know. It’d be _so easy_ , all you have to do is make one little deal with me.” He grinned, all teeth and cruelty. “C’mon, you’re never gonna find what you’re looking for. Not in those books.”

The various employees spread around the room ignored him, focused on trying to find a solution without resorting to demon deals. For once, making a deal with Henry likely wouldn’t work in their favor.

Pinning Joey with his gaze, Henry limply tilted his head towards the gold sphere, like he was a puppet on strings. “You want this back inside me, right? I’ll do it for you, simple as that. All I ask for is a soul, just once.” He laughed, high pitched and deranged. “It won’t even hurt!”

Joey swallowed. His hands shook as he forced himself to look away from the _creature_ pretending to be his friend. Henry was never meant to be like that, so as far as he was concerned, that _thing_ wasn’t Henry at all.

“Just shut up,” Sammy said, eyeing Joey in a rare show of concern. “No one’s making any deals with you.”

“Why not? You do have a soul, don't you, Lawrence?”

Ignoring the dig, Sammy deliberately refocused on at his own spell book. “Because giving you a soul would defeat the purpose of saving you, moron. Not that you care. You’ll thank us later.”

Even though Henry’s eyes were solid black, it was easy to tell as he rolled his eyes. “Bleeding hearts,” he muttered with no small amount of disdain.

Joey’s own heart—very much bleeding, if you asked him—clenched. Perhaps sensing his weakness, Henry shifted to better face Joey again. He steeled himself against whatever the demon might tempt him with.

“What if he’s hurting, Joey?” Henry asked softly. He slid around the edge of the circle so he was standing directly next to the physical manifestation of his goodness. “What if your best friend is trapped in there, lost and alone?”

Sammy’s voice snapped, “Sit back down, Drew!”

Joey hadn’t even felt himself stand up. Henry was staring at him, something in his eyes convincing Joey that the only way this could be solved was with a deal. He wouldn’t mind giving up his soul for his best friend.

A hand wrapped around his wrist, making him pause.

“Joey, _please_ ,” Susie begged him, leaning across the table. “You can’t listen to him.”

She sounded so far away.

“I… I gotta…” Joey tried to take a step forward.

From the other side of the room, someone—Wally, maybe—called, “Somebody’s gotta get him outta here!”

Hands pushed him towards the door, wrestling him away from Henry.

“It’s just your soul,” the demon whispered, unblinking.

Sluggish, Joey nodded, pressing back against his employees. “It’s just my soul,” he repeated.

“It won’t even hurt,” Henry told him.

“It won’t even hurt,” Joey told them.

There was shouting, pleading, more movement than he could keep track of, and yet all Joey could hear was Henry.

“Please, Joey,” Henry said, pressing his palms to the faintly glowing barrier. For a split second, his eyes were blue, pleading and scared. “I need your help.”

Seeing his friend practically caged up—completely forgetting that he himself had done it for everyone’s safety—sent Joey into a rage. “He needs my help!” he shouted, furiously fighting against the monsters trying to hold him back.

It took six men to force him out of the room and into the hallway, slamming the door behind them and cutting off Henry’s demonic laughter.

• • • • •

“ _What was that?”_ Sammy kept shouting, lacking an answer. Down the hall, Susie was kneeling next to a hyperventilating Wally, rubbing his back and whispering to keep his head between his raised knees. Norman leaned defeatedly against the closed door, listening to Henry’s laughter with his eyes clenched shut.

A couple animators were babbling incoherently, clutching their spell books to their chests. No one even knew where Shawn had disappeared off to, and they could only hope that the toons would do as they were told and _stay away_ until someone told them otherwise.

On the ground, Joey stared unseeingly up at the ceiling, his entire body shaking.

Taking a deep breath, Norman spun and pushed the door open just enough to slip through the crack. Someone called after him, but he ignored them.

Henry watched him, dark chuckles still spilling out of him.

“So,” Norman said, wiping his damp palms on the front of his pants, “since when can demons control people’s minds?”

Casually leaning back against the pentagram’s barrier, as if the air between them wasn’t tense and serious, Henry shrugged. “Who said anything about mind control?” he asked.

“If whatever you just did to Joey wasn’t mind control, then what was it?”

There was a long pause, where Henry just stared at him. Finally, he asked, “How many things would you give your soul up for?”

Norman frowned. “What?”

“What I mean is that, the answer’s probably not much. Maybe to save a life, prolong your own, y’now, _big things_. And yet, how often are demons actually summoned for those sorts of deals?” He bent forward and whispered, “Go on, guess.”

Keeping his gaze low to avoid eye contact, Norman said, “Not often.”

“Yep,” Henry said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “So us demons, we gotta get a little creative—and hey! No one ever said we play fair!” He laughed, and Norman couldn’t stop himself from covering his ears against the horrible sound.

“So what,” Norman said once silence returned, “you just…”

“Call it a _thrall_ , if you will. When someone wants something enough, when their mind is a mess of emotions, it’s _so terribly easy_ to sneak in and convince them that it’s more than worth it to give up their soul for whatever little mortal problem plagues them.” Henry tutted, as though disappointed. “You’re all so hilariously weak, after all. You saw for yourself just how quickly Mr. Joey Drew broke down and allowed me access.”

Momentarily speechless, Norman looked up at the man he considered to be a good friend of his, and hated that he could hardly recognize him. Past the demon, the gold sphere glowed brightly, and he stared at it.

“I do mean it, y’know,” Henry said quietly. The barrier lit up beneath his touch as he traced a finger down it. “It wouldn’t hurt. And losing your soul only once doesn’t affect you much.”

Against his will, Norman’s eyes drifted back to Henry’s. They were still a deep, endless black. Consuming, almost.

“Norman. My friend. If not your soul, what would you give me to restore myself?”

Shaking his head, Norman didn’t notice the way the rest of the room blurred, centering his focus on the demon before him. “I… I don’t…”

“It doesn’t have to be much. Just, why don’t you come a little closer, hm?” Henry cajoled. “All I need is something to make it worth it.”

Norman’s feet dragged across the floor towards the pentagram.

“That’s it.” Henry smiled. “You’re such a good friend, Norman. I’m lucky to have you.”

“I… I shouldn’t be…”

“No, no, you’re fine. In fact, you’re _helping_ me, Norman.”

“Yeah,” Norman said, voice slurred. “I’m helping you.”

Fangs glinting, Henry watched the distance slowly close between them. “You’re doing me a favor,” he told the enthralled human.

“I’m doing you a favor.”

The door swung open, Sammy’s voice breaking the quiet of the room to say, “I don’t care what you’re doing, but Joey’s still not—Norman!”

Henry laughed, cracking the walls surrounding him, as Norman’s foot dragged over the edge of the pentagram, breaking his cage.

Frozen, Sammy watched Norman collapse as Henry swiped the gold sphere out of the air.

“I wonder,” Henry said through his fangs, “just what will happen when I destroy this.”

• • • • •

Even after Henry vanished, Sammy remained at the door, staring with wide eyes into the room. 

How could it all have gone so wrong, so fast? The voodoo man hadn’t given so much as a reason for preforming his spell or whatever it was on Henry, other than being curious to see what would happen. He’d disappeared as quickly as he’d shown up, though, leaving them to deal with the wicked aftermath.

It was sheer luck that Joey managed to trap Henry before any chaos could be created, or worse—before Henry tried to leave. 

But now… he pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling very scared and very unsure, and hating that he felt either. 

“Sammy?” 

He stepped back into the hallway to look at Susie. Thankfully, Wally seemed to have calmed down a bit, which was exactly the type of optimistic thing that Henry would notice. 

“What’s wrong?” she quietly asked him. 

With a long sigh, Sammy told her, “Norman’s out. Probably same thing that he did to Joey.”

“And Henry?”

Meeting her worried eyes, he wished he could’ve told her something— _anything_ —else. “He’s gone.” 

• • • • •

In one of the staff lounges, Shawn startled awake with a sharp gasp. 

He’d never tried to see the future of a specific event, but for a first time, it went surprisingly well. There were two very clear possibilities of what could happen from here: either Henry destroyed his own goodness and became exactly the type of demon he’d always hated, or they successfully merged the gold sphere with Henry’s body.

And as far as he could tell, there was only one way to do that. Shawn sighed as he stumbled off the couch and across the room. He had a plan, and he already thoroughly hated it. 

• • • • •

Henry spat out a string of curses when he found his way blocked _again_. It seemed that sometime between his capture in the pentagram and his escape, Joey’d found the time to take measures that ultimately prevented him from leaving the studio. 

Stupid mortals. 

It wasn’t likely he’d be able to get out by himself; someone else would need to break whatever spell was keeping him here. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything else, like destroy the sphere containing his goodness. 

It pulsed angrily in his hands. 

“Shut up,” he snarled at it. “It’s not my fault there’s so much of you! What kind of demon even has such a large amount of goodness?”

“The best kind.” 

Henry slowly turned around to find Bendy standing in the middle of the hallway. His hands were visibly trembling, but there was a very determined look on his face. Henry narrowed his eyes. 

Pointing at the sphere, Bendy said, in a very stern voice that only shook a little, “You put that back where it came from.” 

Curious despite himself, Henry slid a little closer to the living cartoon. “And if I don’t?” 

“Then I’ll make you.” 

A laugh burst out of Henry, unbidden. The idea that this tiny little toon, barely a demon himself, could _make_ him return the goodness to his body was, quite frankly, ridiculous. 

“ _You?_ You honestly think that _you_ could make _me_ do anything?” Still chuckling, Henry turned his back to the wall, slumping against it for support. “That’s funny, kid.” 

Puffing up his chest, Bendy said, “I could.” 

Side-eyeing the pipsqueak, Henry contemplated just blasting him. See how confident he’d be after that. 

But the moment the thought crossed his mind, a searing pain shot through his aura, nearly sending him to his knees. 

Swallowing a gasp of pain, Henry backed into a wall and found himself slowly slipping down it. It took all his strength to croak out, “What did you—”

“Don’t you recognize it?” Bendy asked sweetly, inching closer. “Henry’s my Creator. We have a bond.” 

The pain didn’t stop, and Henry squeezed his eyes shut. “This ain’t a bond, it’s—”

“I guess you wouldn’t recognize it,” Bendy said conversationally. Henry was almost proud of the aloofness the kid was showing, but he was too pissed off and in pain—not to mention missing his goodness—to think such charitable thoughts. A choked cry escaped his throat as the agony increased. Bendy, sidling around Henry’s slumped and twitching body towards the gold sphere, continued, “All you know about bonds is the stupid caretaker one.”

Henry snarled as Bendy grabbed the manifestation of his goodness, but that only made his suffering worsen. He was burning up from the inside out. 

“Oh!” Bendy said, staring down in wonder at the sphere. “I—I can feel him. Henry’s right here, just waiting to get out.”

“Give… that… _back_ …” 

With a very cheeky smile, Bendy shrugged. “If you insist.”

The gold sphere seemed to explode then, filling the hallway with a bright, all-consuming warmth. 

And to Bendy—having the type of nature to feel such things—the sheer power that swirled through the space seemed to wrap around him for a moment, cradling him in joyous laughter and blinding love. 

• • • • •

For most people, having their goodness separated from the rest of them wouldn’t be all that special. Yes, they’d act crueler, be mean and inconsiderate, so on and so forth. For most demons, it wouldn’t even make much of a difference, if any goodness could be removed at all.

But since when had Henry been like most demons?

Having his goodness removed from his body was like taking away most of who he was, leaving behind a crude copy of himself that only had his inborn wickedness to rely on for his so-called _personality_.

What was left of Henry wasn’t even remotely worthy of being called Henry.

The amount of goodness that was tied to his aura, when condensed into a physical object, carried more than enough of him to actually be aware, in a way. Even better, so much of who he was was tied up in his lighter side, so to speak, that it hadn’t been separated properly.

Had the voodoo man who’d done this to him known who he was dealing with, maybe he would’ve chosen a different victim. As it was, removing Henry’s goodness meant a lot of other parts of him got caught up in the spell—so much of him was inexplicably tied to it that it was more accurate to say that Henry himself had been removed from his body than something as simple as his goodness.

His rage was often fueled by love, his ferocity by protectiveness. Anger on behalf of his family, fury when they were in danger. In a way, such things as those were just as much his goodness as his plain old kindness.

Even as a _sphere_ of all things, by no means was he unable to feel such powerful emotions as those.

And boy, to say Henry was pissed about his current circumstance was an understatement.

Bodiless and cut off from his magick—even though there was plenty in his little prison, he couldn’t actually use it—Henry was helpless to do anything but float there and watch not-Henry taunt his friends.

A righteous fire raged in his core, unnoticed by the room’s occupants, when he realized that not-Henry was putting Joey in a thrall. Oh, he’d take great pleasure in reestablishing himself in his body, burning away this imposter wearing his face.

It only got worse from there, and Henry was infuriatingly helpless as Norman too was taken in, ultimately freeing not-Henry—who, _of course_ , wanted to destroy the sphere he was currently trying and failing to break out of. If he ever got his hands on the voodoo man who’d done this to him…

Voiceless, he ranted at not-Henry, which turned into gloating once it became obvious that he couldn’t entirely escape the studio.

 _C’mon, just put me back already,_ Henry tried to send at his body. _Look at you, your hands are burning just from holding me. Ha, either you’re stupidly weak without me, or there’s way more goodness packed into this container than I thought!_

“Shut up,” not-Henry snarled at him. “It’s not my fault there’s so much of you! What kind of demon even has such a large amount of goodness?”

_Me, duh!_

Henry went ignored, as it turned out Bendy had shown up in time to answer as well.

_Who thought it’d be a good idea to bring him here?! I swear, if you hurt him, I’ll—_

Oh. Oh, that was brilliant.

Deep inside Henry’s—or in this case, not-Henry’s—aura, his bond with Bendy had a little failsafe attached to it.

_“I have a lot of enemies,” he had told Bendy while he was creating the failsafe. “And combined with the alarming frequency that spells go wrong around here, there’s a good chance that something beyond my control will use me to threaten you.”_

_“So what’s it actually do?” Bendy’d asked._

_“Think of it as, uh, a shock collar or something, but for my aura.”_

When he’d first created the failsafe, he’d had things more along the lines of mind control or maybe even possession—not impossible, he’d learned to his surprise ages ago—pegged as the most likely culprits for triggering the failsafe. Not… this.

Whatever worked, though, right?

 _Ha!_ he thought at his false self, something like electricity on steroids searing through his body’s aura, _serves you right for threatening my son!_

If he had cheeks, they’d be burning. At least no one heard that.

 _Gosh, you’re an idiot,_ Henry told his goodness-deprived self. _Can’t you tell that the more you think about hurting him, the worse the pain gets? Good to know I’d be a genuine moron if I was a normal demon._

He watched happily as Bendy picked him up without meeting any resistance from not-Henry.

_Bud! Thank goodness you’re here—although, I’ll be having a serious chat with whoever thought it’d be a good idea to send you to deal with this crazy knockoff by yourself. I’m so ready to be out of here._

Henry could feel the glee that shot through Bendy. “Oh! I—I can feel him. Henry’s right here, just waiting to get out.”

_You bet I am. You shouldn’t have much trouble now that he’s not exactly at his best. If you could just release the seal on this sphere, I’ll be able to go back to where I belong._

Not-Henry didn’t appear to be ready to surrender, though. Props to him, Henry figured, since he at least got that part of his true personality right. “Give… that… _back_ …”

Ooh, Bendy was practically glowing with mischievousness. Giving not-Henry his cheekiest smile—something Henry recognized from personal experience—he shrugged and said, “If you insist.”

The seal containing Henry shattered, and with a soundless whoop, he exploded out of his prison. Enjoying his freedom, he spared a moment to swirl around the hallway, giving Bendy something of a hug with his power.

Refiling his body, he scowled at not-Henry one last time. _You are the farthest thing from me possible. In fact, you’re nothing but a pale imitation, a crude copy, a ghost of who I am. And as the_ ** _real_** _Henry, I order you to be gone!_

With a deep, cleansing breath, Henry opened his eyes, firmly himself again.

He blinked at Bendy, who stood watching him carefully. Overjoyed to be whole and safe and not endangering his family, Henry laughed giddily and leapt to his feet, a smile splitting his face.

“Oh, I’m back, I’m back and I’m me and I’m not a floating ball!” Sweeping Bendy up, he spun around a few times, reveling in having his limbs right where they should be, before hugging the little demon close. “You did fantastic, kiddo, and I’m too happy to bother getting angry with whoever sent you. Just, are you all right?”

Clutching Henry’s shirt in his fists, Bendy curled into his Creator’s body, humming contentedly.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

• • • • • 

There was no need for anyone to wonder whether or not Henry was back to normal, because only Henry could practically skip down the hallway with Bendy in his arms with a smile shining at them.

He gently put Bendy down before kneeling next to Joey’s unconscious and still twitching body.

“What a shoddy job,” he said beneath his breath before removing the poorly cast thrall.

Joey’s eyes slowly opened, and he blinked up at Henry for a few seconds before a look of apprehension crossed his face. Just as quickly, though, he relaxed and held up a hand.

“Good to have you back,” he said as Henry pulled him up.

“It’s good to be back,” Henry told him with a lopsided grin. Stepping away, he turned for the room where he’d been contained, giving Sammy a hearty pat on the back and producing Wally’s favorite cookie from thin air on his way.

Just before he crossed the threshold, he glanced back over his shoulder and causally said, “If anyone wants to think up some, uh, _consequences_ for the voodoo man, I’ll be more than willing to take suggestions once I get Norman back on his feet.”

A number of voices said together, with various levels of anger darkening their tones, “ _Gladly_.”

“Yeah,” Henry said to himself as he made his way to Norman’s side, “very, _very_ good to be back.”

**Author's Note:**

> It was a lot of fun to post this in parts over the course of four days. I'd like to thank everyone that screamed at me, especially during part 1 and 2. ;)
> 
> Also, in case anyone's wondering about the title, it both references the song and means that Henry is, for most of this fic, on the "other side" of being a demon. His friends are staring at a creature that doesn't stand with them for once.


End file.
